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UK's Johnson sides with Trump on Nato defence spending

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson agrees with US President-elect Donald Trump that other Nato members need to pull their weight.

PHOTO: REUTERS

[LONDON] UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson agrees with US President-elect Donald Trump that other Nato members need to pull their weight.

In his first major speech since being appointed Britain's top diplomat, Mr Johnson said on Friday that Mr Trump "has a point" when it comes to how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations meet their defense-spending commitments.

Mr Trump raised fears about his commitment to the Nato principle of collective defence by suggesting during his election campaign that US participation should hinge on all 28 countries in the military alliance meeting a pledge to spend two per cent of their economic output on defense. In 2015, just the US, Greece, the UK, Estonia and Poland met the target.

"It cannot be justified that one Nato ally, America, accounts for about 70 per cent of the alliance's defense spending while the other 27 countries manage only 30 per cent between them," Mr Johnson said at the London office of Chatham House, a think tank.